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It's easy to conclude from the literature and the lore that top-notch customer service is the province of a few luxury companies and that any retailer outside that rarefied atmosphere is condemned to offer mediocre service at best. But even companies that position themselves for the mass market can provide outstanding customer-employee interactions and profit from them, if they train employees to reflect the brand's core values. The authors studied the convenience store industry in depth and focused on two that have developed a devoted following: QuikTrip (QT) and Wawa. Turnover rates at QT and Wawa are 14% and 22%, respectively, much lower than the typical rate in retail. The authors found six principles that both firms embrace to create a strong culture of customer service. Know what you're looking for: A focus on candidates' intrinsic traits allows the companies to hire people who will naturally bring the right qualities to the job. Make the most of talent: In mass-market retail, talent is generally viewed as a commodity--but that outlook becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Create pride in the brand: Service quality depends directly on employees' attachment to the brand. Build community: Wawa and QT have made concerted efforts to build customer loyalty through a sense of community. Share the business context: Employees need a clear understanding of how their company operates and how it defines success. Satisfy the soul: To win an employee's passionate engagement, a company must meet his or her needs for security, esteem, and justice.

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When customers lack the expertise to judge a company's offerings, they naturally turn detective, scrutinizing people, facilities, and processes for evidence of quality. The Mayo Clinic understands this and carefully manages that evidence to convey a simple, consistent message: The needs of the patient come first. From the way it hires and trains employees to the way it designs its facilities and approaches its care, the Mayo Clinic provides patients and their families concrete evidence of its strengths and values--an approach that has allowed it to build what is arguably the most powerful brand in health care. Marketing professors Leonard Berry and Neeli Bendapudi conducted a five-month study of evidence management at the Mayo Clinic. Their experiences led them to identify best practices applicable to just about any company, in particular those that sell intangible or technically complex products. Essentially, the authors say, companies need to determine what story they want to tell, then ensure that their employees and facilities consistently show customers evidence of that story. At Mayo, the evidence falls into three categories: people, collaboration, and tangibles. The way in which Mayo manages evidence to communicate its message is an example to be followed.

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This is an enhanced edition of the HBR reprint R0110G, originally published in November 2001. HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview that draws out the main points and an annotated bibliography that points you to related resources. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights with others.

It's bad enough to lose a trusted employee who works well within your organization, but when you lose a star performer who has built up strong customer relationships, something else is at stake: The star's customers may also walk out the door. In a two-year study of more than 200 people from 57 companies, Neeli Bendapudi and Robert Leone found that most strategies to keep customers when stars leave are largely ineffective because they grow out of a company's perspective, not a customer's. The authors asked customers how they felt and discovered three main concerns. First, customers can become attached to a particular key contact employee, and if that person leaves, they wonder whether service will suffer. You can forge a broader relationship by ensuring that customers interact with many employees, using techniques like deploying teams, rotating staff, and offering one-stop shopping. Second, customers fear that a replacement won't be as good as the employee who left. You can combat this by stressing the quality of all your employees--not just superstars. Third, customers want information about the changeover and how you will manage the transition. Communicate the identity of a replacement in advance of a departure, and have the outgoing employee introduce the new person.

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It's bad enough to lose a trusted employee who works well within your organization, but when you lose a star performer who has built up strong customer relationships, something else is at stake: The star's customers may also walk out the door. In a two-year study of more than 200 people from 57 companies, Neeli Bendapudi and Robert Leone found that most strategies to keep customers when stars leave are largely ineffective because they grow out of a company's perspective, not a customer's. The authors asked customers how they felt and discovered three main concerns. First, customers can become attached to a particular key contact employee, and if that person leaves, they wonder whether service will suffer. You can forge a broader relationship by ensuring that customers interact with many employees, using techniques like deploying teams, rotating staff, and offering one-stop shopping. Second, customers fear that a replacement won't be as good as the employee who left. You can combat this by stressing the quality of all your employees--not just superstars. Publicize your hiring practices, training, and employees' achievements. Third, customers want information about the changeover and how you will manage the transition. Communicate the identity of a replacement in advance of a departure, and have the outgoing employee introduce the new person. Addressing all areas of customer concern in concert tells customers that you value their business and that you deserve to keep it. In the article, the authors also include a scorecard to rate your company on how well you are protecting customer relationships when employee turnover occurs.

learning objective:

To understand three concerns customers have when their preferred contact at a company leaves and to learn how to address those concerns so customers stay loyal.

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